Cancer treatment reviews
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Cancer treatment reviews · May 2016
Review Meta AnalysisHow low should we go: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of restrictive red blood cell transfusion strategies in oncology.
Most non-oncologic clinical practice guidelines recommend restrictive allogeneic blood transfusion practices; however, there is a lack of consensus regarding the best transfusion practice in oncology. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to compare the efficacy and safety of restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategies in patients with cancer. ⋯ Restrictive strategy appears to decrease blood utilization without increasing morbidity or mortality in oncology. This review is limited by a paucity of high quality studies on this topic. Better designed studies are warranted.
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Cancer treatment reviews · Jun 2015
Review Meta AnalysisStatin use and mortality in cancer patients: Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
Previous studies have examined the effect of statin use on the mortality in cancer patients, but the results are inconsistent. A meta-analysis was performed to assess the association with all available studies. ⋯ In conclusion, the average effect of statin use, both postdiagnosis and prediagnosis, is beneficial for overall survival and cancer-specific survival.
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Cancer treatment reviews · Jun 2014
Review Meta Analysis Comparative StudySafety and efficacy of addition of VEGFR and EGFR-family oral small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors to cytotoxic chemotherapy in solid cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
The approach of combining cytotoxic chemotherapy with oral small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has been explored in a large number of randomized trials, in a variety of tumor. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this therapeutic approach. ⋯ It is important for physicians to weigh the risk of toxicity versus the modest PFS benefit associated with chemotherapy plus TKI in patients with solid cancers.
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Cancer treatment reviews · Nov 2013
Review Meta AnalysisA systematic review of trastuzumab and lapatinib in the treatment of women with brain metastases from HER2-positive breast cancer.
Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer are living still longer and increasingly experiencing brain metastases. Current HER2-targeted therapies have limited potential to cross the blood-brain-barrier. We performed a systematic review to investigate data on HER2-targeting therapies in the treatment of brain metastases in breast cancer. ⋯ Although continuous HER2-blockade is recommended by international consensus guidelines, it is still not evident which HER2-targeting agent should be preferred when brain metastases occur. The choice of chemotherapy to accompany the blockade is not obvious and we do not know if dual is better than single blockade. Further clinical trials are urgently needed.
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Cancer treatment reviews · Jun 2013
Review Meta AnalysisCytoreductive surgery and HIPEC for peritoneal metastases combined with curative treatment of colorectal liver metastases: Systematic review of all literature and meta-analysis of observational studies.
Assess the overall outcome in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients that present with a combination of peritoneal metastases (PM) and liver metastases (CRLM) after curative resection and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in the current literature. ⋯ In the absence of randomized controlled studies, we found in this systematic review and meta-analysis of patients with a combination of colorectal metastases in the liver as well as in the peritoneum show a trend towards a lower overall survival after curative resection and HIPEC, when compared to patients with isolated peritoneal metastases after CRS and HIPEC (pooled HR1.24, CI 0.96-1.60). However, patients with metastatic CRC show a tendency towards increased median overall survival after CRS and HIPEC combined with resection of liver metastases when compared to treatment with modern systemic chemotherapy.